The changes mean it will become an offence to leave any mark on any property or any premises without the owners' consent, with offences attracting a $440 penalty.

Currently the law says you can't chalk premises without the owner's consent and on any other property, it is not permitted to leave permanent marks.

Greens MLC David Shoebridge says that means that current you can't paint or otherwise permanently mark footpaths, but chalk marks, for example a chalked hopscotch court, escape sanction.

Mr Shoebridge says he asked whether the government realised the changes would make it unlawful for kids to chalk hopscotch courts on paths, or indeed for Arthur Stace to have left his iconic "Eternity" inscriptions around Sydney over 35 years, with the word becoming the image unveiled on the Harbour Bridge in the year 2000.

He says the government understands perfectly well but doesn't care.

"Almost nobody cares about civil liberties," Mr Shoebridge said of his Parliamentary colleagues, saying those who raise such concerns get hounded as radicals.

"You don't put dumb laws in and hope that the police will exercise discretion," he said.

"I never thought I'd have to be moving amendments in parliaments to protect hopscotch but it looks like what we'll be doing."

You can listen here to the interview with David Shoebridge and the 702 Mornings calls and texts, where the tone had a strong "bureaucracy gone mad" flavour.